Rail joint for permanent-way rails



3365-30, 19 29. E. AQBYRDE 1,

RAIL JOINT FOR PERMANENT WAY RAILS Filed Aug. 15, 1927 Patented July 30, 1929.

EDWIN AUGUSTUS BYRDE,

OF ABBA, BRITISH. INDIA.

RAIL JOINT FOR PERhIANENT-VIAY RAILS.

Application filed August 15, 1927, Serial No.

This invention relates to rail joints for railway and like rails more particularly applicable to flat footed rails.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a joint in rails which will as nearly as possible have the same strength or flexibility as the rail itself, thereby enabling the sleepers to be evenly spaced.

One defect in the ordinary methods of railway track construction which is due to the joints in the rails having less strength and rigidity than the rest of the rails is itself due to the fact that it has been found necessaryto' support the joint more efiiciently than the rest of the rail and for that purpose the sleepers next the joint or towards the ends of the rails frequently have been spaced closer together than the sleepers towards the centre of the rail length. The result of this uneven 2O spacing of the sleepers and unevenness in the continuity of the stillness of the rail and longitudinal elasticity of the track throughout has been that the elastic wave of depression which passes through the railway track as each axle load, or concentrated group of axle loads, traverses the track has not been uniform but has been subjected to a series of checks or interruptions owing to the successive groups of closely spaced sleeper being encountered at intervals and to the disturbances due to the successive rail joints.

It is one intention of this invention to provide a rail joint which will, it is hoped, be satisfactory in operation with the sleepers spaced evenly throughout the whole track length, and to so construct the joints then selves that they will not constitute hard or soft spots in the travelling deflection waves in the track when wheel loads pass.

Another ob'ect of the invention is to )rovide a joint which is simple and easy to construct and to maintain.

Another object is to produce a construction in which the area of the surfaces subjected to compressive stress is largely increased above the area usually provided in rail joints. By this means indentation of the fish plate contact areas'may be avoided.

further object is to provide a construction which may be used with the standard types of rails having standard spacings of fish-plate bolt holes in their ends and to use 213,138, and in British India May 30. 132?.

said standard spaced holes without calling for the drilling of further holes in the rail web, and, what is of great importance, avoid any necessity at all to notch or drill holes in the flanges of the rails.

A still further object is to provide a joint in which all the parts are simple and can be easily rolled or formed.

A still further object is to enable the mem ber which actually supports the rail ends from below to be a short length of a similar rail or to be a member cut from, or out of, a short piece of rail.

Still another object is to provide a rail joint which will also act as a rail anchor to discourage the creep of the rails.

According to the present invention the rail ends to be joined are held to ether and in line by ordinary type fish plates, which are drawn together by fish bolts to make solid contact with the upper and lower lishing surfaces, and thus to hold the said rail ends to line and level in the well known manner. These fish plates and fish bolts take the main pull in tension when the rails contractsaid pull being substantially centrally applied from the rails to the fish plates, thus avoiding bending and twisting strains. In combination with these fish plates, which may be quite short ones, is a sole plate of greater length than the fish plates and adapted to support the rails to proper level.

To hold said sole plate up to its work clamps are used at each end so that this work does not fall upon the fish plates at all, the construction of which is therefore not unnecessarily complicated. have the added advantage that the are positively fixed in place by being bolted, and these bolts pass through the webs of the rail ends and of the sole plate below, thus avoiding unnecessary reduction of strength in these members. In the preferred form these clamps also are so formed that they wedge onto the contacting parts of the rail ends and of the sole plate to force these parts together in firm contact throughout the length of the sole plate under the draw produced by the bolts used to secure them. It will thus be seen that owing to the fish plates and the The clamps also clamps being absolutely separated from' each other they each can be designed to function to the best advantage, and in actual practice are each able to perform the duties which they are intended to perform without any interferences or loss of eliiiccncy due to the inter-action of the other.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of a rail joint for railway or the like rails, characterized by its having in combination a pair of fish plates for fishing the webs of the rail ends to hold the rail ends in line, and a base plate rigidly clamped to the rail ends for supporting the rail ends from below throughout the whole length 01 the base plate, said base plate being of greater length than the fish plates, and both ends of the said base plate being" secured, supported or held up and wedged to the bases of the rail ends by means which are distinct and independent from the fish plates used, said latter means being; clamps which are secured to tie base plate and to the webs of the rail ends to be joined in a positive manner, for example by bolts adapted to hold said clamps rigidly, thus avoiding; their working loose under trafiic.

In this joint the fish plates referred to are conveniently short fish plates adapt-ed to be secured to the rail ends alone by one bolt only to each side ot-the joint in the rails.

The base plate referred to may be secured to each rail end it joins, by a pair of clamps, each pair being bolted to the webs of its corresponding rail end at a point beyond (further from the center of the rail joint than) the ends of the fish plates, said clamps also being bolted to the base plate.

Thebase plate will be of a still section and preferably of a rolled section. In the preferred embodiment oi" the invention it is approximately of a rolled T section, preterably a section similar to the flange and web or" the rails it is intended to join.

The base plate may even be "formed out of a short length out rail of the same section as the rails to be jointed either with or with out the head of the said len 'th of rail removed.

In this joint the ends of the base plate may be cut ofif square and adapted to butt up against the sleepers to either side of the joint for the purpose of forming a spacing member for said sleepers and/or a means for anchoring the rail joint by engaging said sleepers and preventing movement of the rails without movement of at least one sleep-er at each oint.

A rail joint according to this invention may be adapted to be used with standard rails having a standard spacing of two fish bolt holes at each end of each rail length, arranged so that the short fish plates used are bolted to the end holes (the ones next the rail ends) and the clamps are bolted to the inner hg les and to holes in the downward.

pendantweb of the base plate vertically below said inner holes in the rail ends.

'lhesaid rail joint may he o two pairs of clamps connecting the webs of the rail ends to the depending flange of the base plate used therewith, thus avoiding any necessity to make holes in the flanges oi the rail ends.

T he concave central surfaces of the clamps used may be shaped, slop d or bevelled to engage closely the upper surface (fishing surace) of the foot or flange of the rail end and the under surface of the upper part of the base plate, and be adapted to have a draw and be so formed that, when the bolts securthe said clamps are tightened up, a wedging' action takes place to force the rail, end and the base plate togetherf The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of the joint.

2 is a plan of the same.

Fig. 3 is a section on line A A.

' Figs. 1 and are sections on line l3 and C C respectively.

In these figures the permanent way rails 1. 1 are fished with short fish plates 2, 2 havin a length to engage only one fish bolt 3, at either side of the joint 4: in the rails.

A base plate 5 supports the ends of the rails and is clamped to the rails by the pairs of clamps 6, 6.

These clamps are bolted on by bolts 7 through the webs 1" of the rail ends and by bolts 8 passing through the base plate.

The dimensions may be so chosen that the bolts 3 and 7 pass through fish bolt holes of the standard spacing r'or the type of rail to be joined.

The base plate 5 may be of any suitable rolled section. As shown it is a T section having the flange 5 of the T and the depending stem 5 of the T of similar sections to the flange 1 and web 1 of the rails to be oined. hen made like this the-said'base plate might be readily cut out of a short length of a scrap rail of similar section by having; the head removed. If desired a length of old rail (or new rail) might be used for the base plate a portion of such being indicated in Figs. l and 5.

The above construction enables the clamps to be made of a regular section symmetrical about their middle points.

The clamps 6. 6 are used in pairs and may be interchangeable and reversible top for bottom.

The ends of the base plate may be cut oil guare and the length be the standard clear spacing of the sleepers used. The said ends 10, 10 mightthen be butted up against the sleepers 11, ll. This would check the tendency of the rails to creep as they could not creep without moving; one of sleepers and the ballast with. it.

The increased area of the surfaces subjected to direct compression is an important advantage which this invention realizes. For example, the area in direct compression by using the supporting base plate may be as much 150% greater than that provided by a pair of fish plates of ordinary length. This means that the contact pressure in compression may be reduced to only 40% of that usually met with in practice and the indentation of the, fish plate contact surfaces and fishing surfaces on the rails be avoided.

t should further be noted that the clamps 6 need not depend upon their bolts 7 and 8 to any appreciable extent to hold up the end of the base plate 5. Instead the concave portions of the central parts of said clamps may be made to fit the upper surface 1 of the foot of the rail and the under surface 5 of the base plate with a drawing or .wedging action to hold the two parts 1 and 5 in close contact. To assist in this the clamps 6 may be so made that when the bolts 7 and 8 are being tightened the clamps will jamb on the surfaces 1 and 5 before the upward and downward projecting parts of the clamps touch the web 1" of the rail or the depending part 5 of the base plate. The bolts 7 and 8 then act in a similar manner to ordinary fish-bolts and do not necessarily come under any direct shear.

The invention although applicable most readily to flat footed rails is also applicable with the necessary modifications to bull-headed or double-headed rails also.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be per formed I declare that what I claim is z- 1. A suspended rail joint adapted to be used with railway rails and ordinary cross tie construction comprising meeting rail sections in combination with a pair of fish plates, the latter functioning solely for fishing the webs of the rail ends to hold the rail ends in line, and a suspended base plate rigidly clamped to the rail ends for supporting said ends from below throughout the entire length of the base plate, said base plate being of greater length than the fish plates and bric ing the gap between the cross ties on either side of the joint in the rails and means inclependent of the fish plates for securing both ends of the base plate to the bases of the rail ends, said securing means comprising clamps and means for securing said clamps in a positive manner to the base plate and to the webs of the rail ends to be joined whilst at the same time wedging the rail ends to the base plate;

2. A rail oint comprising meeting rail sections in combination with a pair of fish plates, the latter functioning solely for fishingthe webs of the rail ends to hold the rail ends in line, and a base plate rigidly clamped to the rail ends for supporting said ends from below throughout the entire length of the base plate, said base plate being of greater length than the. fish plates and means independent of the fish plates for securing both ends of the base plate to the bases of the rail ends, said securing means comprising clamps and means for securing said clamps in positive manner to the base plate and to the webs of the rail ends to be joined, the fish plates being relatively short and being secured to the rail ends by one bolt only on each side of the joint in the rails.

3. A rail joint comprising meeting rail sections in combination with a pair of fish plates, the latter functioning solely for fishing the webs of the rail ends to hold the rail ends in line, and a base plate rigidly clamped to the rail ends for supporting said ends from below throughout the entire length of the base plate, saic base plate being of greater length than the fish plates and means independent of the fish plates for securing both ends of the base plate to the bases of the rail ends, said securin means comprising clamps and means for securing said clamps in a positive manner to the base plate and to the webs of the rail ends to be joined, rail sections having a standard spacing of two fish bolt holes at each end, the said short fish plates being bolted to the end holes and the said clamps being bolted to the inner holes and to holes in the web of the base plate approximately vertically below said inner holes.

4. A rail joint comprising meeting rail sections in combination with a pair of fish plates, the latter functioning solely for fishing the webs of the rail ends to hold the rail ends in line, and a base plate rigidly clamped to the rail ends for supporting said ends from below throughout the entire length of the base plate, said base plate being of greater length than the fish plates and means independentof the fish plates for securing both ends of the base plate to the bases of the rail ends, said securing means comprising clamps and means for securing said clamps in a positive manner to the base plate and to the webs of the rail ends to be joined, and two pairs of clamps connecting the webs of the rail ends to the depending flange of the base plate whereby the forming of bolt holes in the flanges of the rail ends is avoided.

5. A rail joint comprising meeting rail sections in combination with a pair of fish plates, the latter functioning solely for fishing the webs of the rail ends to hold the rail ends in line, and a base plate rigidly clamped to the rail ends for supporting said ends from below throughout the entire length of the base plate, said base plate being of greater length than the fish plates and means independent of the fish plates for securing both ends of the base plate to the bases of the rail ends, said securin means comprising clamps and means for securing said clamps in a positive manner to the base plate and to the Webs of the rail ends to be joined, the clamps being formed intermediately with recesses diverging toward the rails adapted closely to engage the upper surface of the foot flange of the rail end and the under surface of the upper flange of the base plate whereby said clamps have a drawing action when clamping force is applied thereto, and bolts for tightening said clamps so as to Wedge said rail ends and said 10 base plate together.

In testimony whereof I hereto afliX my signature, this 14th day of July 1927.

EDWVIN AUGUSTUS BYBDE. 

